Broken Corpse
by taovkool
Summary: Kamijou Touma's unluckiness strikes back! But this time, it was taken to the extreme when he ran into several students and their teacher doing some sort of charm with a paper doll. Thus, Kamijou was inadvertently sent into a rundown classroom surrounded with dead bodies. Huh? Who is that girl in a red dress?
1. Sachiko Ever After

So after several hours of gut wrenching horrors of playing Book of Shadows. I've decided that Corpse Party will be my next project. Seriously, it has a lot of potential that very few are using so don't mind if I do. Well, some of you might be conflicted because bringing a negater hero like Kamijou would have destroyed the very essence of horror, since fear and absolute despair is the rampant predominant theme of Corpse Party. Regardless, I'll find a way for it to work. If I can't, then I'll just rip off the horror genre and slap Touma's hero mode full power.

One thing I've been meaning to try is turning the escape option off, which seems to be everyone's focus in Corpse Party. So I made it that Kamijou didn't do the Sachiko Ever After charm. That means even appeasement won't be enough to ensure his safe passage. Which leaves only one thing for him to do.

Destroy the Heavenly Host.

(Cue shitty grin)

Ah, almost forgot. It's still unfinished. So this'll be a teaser. Ahaha, I'm so evil.

* * *

**The Extraordinary Horror in His Everyday Life. ****_Sachiko_Ever_After_**

* * *

Let me tell you something about a certain person called Kamijou Touma.

Kamijou Touma is an unlucky person.

Ah, let me fix that sentence.

Kamijou Touma is an extremely unlucky person.

Ever since he was born, his entire life was entirely filled with misfortune. There were no days without him having his shoes untied and fell to the floor, or his homework which he had spent several painful hours suddenly bitten off by dogs, or chased by delinquents just for passing them by, or being called pervert for accidentally sticking his hand into a girl's skirt by some dumb accident, or get stuck into an elevator in the highest floor for hours, or getting into a fight to the dead with magicians, espers or any other extraordinarily powerful being with the fate of the world on the line. Recently the last one was the predominant bits, much to his bitter resentment.

Ah, and did I ever mentioned he lost his memories too?

Yes, Kamijou Touma is a very, very, extremely, incredibly and utterly unlucky person whose every single fiber of his being was synonymous with misfortune.

Actually, it's just his right hand, but you get the point.

And so...

Let me tell you something else.

It's about a certain place called Heavenly Host Elementary School.

Just like Kamijou Touma, that place was also synonymous with misfortune.

Back in the 1953, the nurse of the school suddenly went missing and was presumed dead. The next month, there were four serial kidnappings committed by a teacher. In 1970s, the three children were found dead and the teacher was found crazed and insane and was sent to an asylum. He latter escaped and committed suicide in the school's basement. The whereabouts of the fourth child, Shinozaki Sachiko, was not disclosed to the public due to obvious reasons. That's still not the end of it though. Because several years afterwards, the principal of Heavenly Host suddenly went mad and suddenly jumped from the school's rooftop and killed himself.

Like I said, that place was utterly filled to the brink with misfortune.

Unlike Touma's heartfelt and comedy-like misfortune though, this one was covered with the deep red of blood and gore. The school was so filled with death that everyone that walked down the hall can feel that every single part of the school was eerily filled something they could describe as something wrong. Oh well, luckily the school was torn down in the end, right?

Wrong.

Very few knows the truth.

The school might have been closed and torn down in the 70s but something else even worse came out of it.

No, I'm not talking about Kisaragi Academy that was built on top of its former building.

It's about the Heavenly Host itself.

That school still exists.

And that school is still filled with death.

With the passage of time, that scent of death will only become even thicker.

The situation grows even worse when an occultist by the name of Saenoki Naho found out about its existence.

A course of event led her to post a note in her blog. It said that if you wish to forever remain friends for eternity, with the paper Sachiko doll in hand, you and your friends needs to gather around in a circle and each of you must grip firmly onto the proxy doll. Then, you only need to recite _**"Sachiko, we beg of you"**_, one time for each participant present plus once more for Sachiko herself. After chanting, everyone holding onto the paper doll pulls it apart, leaving each person with a paper doll scrap.

Succeeding in the ritual causes nothing to occur. However, performing the charm incorrectly either by repeating the phrase too many times or too few, invokes the wrath of Sachiko and fail the ritual. And the participants actually do not need to recite the chant once more for Sachiko as the original only requires the chant to be recited with the number of participants present.

And thus, it causes those that follows that instruction to be dragged into the abominable school where the dead roams the halls.

That website was like a direction for the sheep to walk into their slaughter.

Anyone that read her blog and decided it was a good idea was certainly one of the most unluckiest person in the world.

Ayumi Shinozaki was one such person.

She read the blog of Saenoki Naho and decided to let her friends and teacher from Kisaragi Academy to perform the ritual. She wanted it to be a farewell present to her friend Mayu Suzumoto who was transferring into another school. Little does she know that she was leading herself and eight other people into hell, with four of them never coming back.

But there is one small glitch...

It was something so simple and impossible that it looked like the universe was purposefully toying at him.

In the end, even if Ayumi did accidentally lead her friends into their dooms, no one in this world is capable of much more misfortune than Kamijou Touma.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

The entire hall was dark and damp. Traces of blood and dead bodies strewn about at every corner. Some of the doors and all windows were mysteriously sealed shut. Whenever he tried to break open a window, nothing seems to work. He tried to use his right hand once, but then the broken glass suddenly reformed itself from the pieces. The entire place was like a haunted school... which considering his track record is not totally impossible.

None of this is a good sign to Kamijou Touma.

"Of all the places I've gotten myself into... It's a horror genre now? ...Fukou da."

For some reason, despite being a veteran(?) of several deadly conflicts, Kamijou still cringed whenever he sees a dead body. Whether or not it was a good sign is debatable since a battlefield is not a place to be distracted, but at least it was a sign that his conscience is still very much intact.

Furthermore, he needs to find the students from before.

The key to this incident lies on those people.

"Well, although I doubted that those normal students untouched by those forces that exist outside normal norms would want to be in a place like this."

There was once an incident called Angel Fall.

Just like the name, it was an incident where an angel was forced down into the Earth under the basis of Kabbalah. It ended up into a complete chaos with everyone's faces and roles were completely switched over.

Despite the worldwide severity of the situation, that incident was in reality just a horrific accident caused by a concerned father trying to fix the misfortune of his son.

Kamijou Touma recalled that incident and was convinced that the same thing must have happened here.

Those students might have heard some sort of urban legend ritual which contained some sort of horrific magical value, and when they decided to carry them out just for fun, it was likely that those ritual carried them over to this horrible place.

"Man, in the end, it all comes down to their misfortune. Though I'm not really one to say..."

After all...What are the odds of someone suddenly passing by a group of people sent into a place of horror because of some sort of ritual they were doing?

And what are the further odds that someone tried to help said group only to fell into the same hole they had created?

"...Haha, d-didn't I ended up here without even knowing what kind of ritual it was or what they were doing? Dammit! This means I'm even more unluckier than they are!"

In any case, this situation is bad.

After all, if there are dead bodies here, then something must have caused them to die in the first place.

And from the numerous stab wounds, cuts and bashes from the remains, it was highly unlikely that they died of accidents or natural causes.

Normal people would just avoid looking at the corpse altogether and missed this obvious but important details or try to deny the facts to ease their beating chests. However, after what he went through though, Kamijou could not exactly be called normal.

He reluctantly accepted the obvious facts that something dangerous here was killing people and those normal students that probably have never experienced the abnormalities of science and magic are in greater danger than a veteran(?) like him."

Honestly, what in the world is this place? It looks like a classroom but this place is just like that hell in Russia."

Just like back then, this place has the scent and flavour of death all over it.

And Kamijou dreaded what might happen to those students that have taken a step into a battlefield like this.

It will not give any exception or discrimination to those that step into it, whether it was innocent or guilty, veteran or amateurs, all of them are in danger of losing their lives. That is what a battlefield truly is.

He needed to find those students, figure out what this place is and find a way to get out.

But before he could decided which way to go.

"Grrr..."

A low growl.

That was all the warning he had before a sledgehammer fell down into his head.

"...!"

The sledgehammer bashed through his skull, leaving Kamijou bleeding and dying his last breath.

...Or so it should have been.

Instead, a sound of broken glass rang out.

The steel tip of the sledgehammer that had been stained by the blood of countless victims suddenly broke into multiple fragments and disappeared.

"...Damn you!"

He was still alive.

The still living Kamijou Touma glared ferally at his sledgehammer wielding assailant (although he was sweating bullets and screaming "Kyaah! Kyaah! That was too damned closeeeeeeeee!" deep inside). With his ambusher in full view, Kamijou suddenly froze.

He was a large, giant man wearing a worker's flanel outfit. His eyes have blood coming out of it. His entire clothes have small drips of stains. Almost as if he had been within outside during a rain or something. Raindrops usually does not have red as its color though.

However, what made him stood out was not his menacing appearance but the strange, sickening aura he has.

Unlike the opponents Kamijou had been fighting before, all of which have some sort of goals they wanted to achieve, this one was made only to kill and kill and kill and kill.

This person radiated death and malice so much that Kamijou was forced to swallow a nervous gulp."

Goddammit, I should have expected something as messed up like you to appear in a place as messed up such as this!"

"Graaaaaaaaauuggghh...! Gruaaaaaaarrgh!"

(H-Huh?)

The bloodthirsty monster let out a strange, gurgled sound.

But first, a question.

How did Kamijou survived such a fatal surprise attack?

There are two answers for that.

Premonition.

It was an unconscious, instinctual skill born from his numerous fights with those abnormal espers and magicians. From the slight shift in the air to something insignificant like a bad feeling. All those small fleeting things gave Kamijou the warning signs and directions he needed to react within the split second that separated life and death.

And, of course...The right hand that negated the supernaturals.

Imagine Breaker.

He had moved that greatest weapon he has in reflex and it made contact with the blunt tip of the sledgehammer just an inch before the sledgehammer made contact with its initial target. Of course, if it was an ordinary sledgehammer then his right arm would have been split into two halves but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Regardless, Kamijou Touma has survived the initial contact against this enemy. Something only few in this place could do.

And besides, something about the contact with his weapon and Kamijou's right hand had stirred an unexpected reaction from the giant man.

"What a mess." Kamijou grimaced.

When he let out that strange sound, Kamijou can't help but feel that there is something different deep with the man in front of him.

It's like the feeling of waste of seeing a brand new plasma tv being broken down into scraps and was used to create a rundown bathroom toilet.

Whoever this person used to be has been drastically changed into the monster he is right now.

"I still don't know what just happened or what this godforsaken place is, but if you want a fight, you just got one. "

The giant threw his pointless sledgehammer aside and drew upon a bloodied knife from his pocket.

Kamijou Touma raised and clenched his right hand violently.

The entire darkness of this school seems to grind to a halt.

It was as if it has realized that instead of facing a powerless, fearful prey, it were facing a predator with the darkness itself as the prey.

The unexpected and inconceivable clash between the giant monster and the not-so-normal high school student begins.


	2. Red Herring

**The Beginning of the Altered Nightmare. _Red_Herring  
_**

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

It had all started in a certain Monday morning.

Index the dangerous canine nun has gone out earlier when a certain maid mentioned something about a free entrance ticket to a free-4-all banquet, so for once in his life Kamijou have a breathing room. He was rejoicing his fate when his phone rang rather loudly.

"Good morning, Onii-chan!"

"Eh? Ah! Is this Otohime?"

The surprise morning caller on the other side of the phone was a cousin of his, Tatsugami Otohime.

"Tehee~ Guess again, who else? Who else?"

(Hm? Is she currently in that age now?)

She seems to be in a good mood. Kamijou would have liked to talk to her some more but the brightening sun outside the window gave him a warning of another impending doom.

"Hey, Otohime, I'm sorry but can you make this fast? School's going to be just in a few minutes."

"Oh, alright then. School is important. So even if it felt like a lot of pain, don't try to skip for no good reason."

Wow, is she actually a class rep type? Kamijou silently wondered.

"So I'll say it straight. If you still have your day off at school, can you go to my school now?"

Hearing that unexpected request, Kamijou responded logically the way anyone else would.

"Huh? For what? That's several cities away. Academy City has a lot of troublesome procedure before you can be allowed to get out. And didn't you say I shouldn't skip for no good reason?"

It was left unmentioned that Kamijou himself had frequently gone out of the city without the proper procedure.

And unexpectedly, the phone was silent

"Otohime?"

"..."

"Err, Otohime-chan?"

"...sniffle."

Kamijou Touma instantly sweat bullets.

(This is bad. This is bad! Otohime's a ten year old girl! This is the problem with that age group that focused a lot less on logic and more on childish wants! A little girl's cries is not something Kamijou-san should face so early in the morning!)

With these thoughts in his head, Kamijou began to grimace.

He spoke carefully and slowly like a scared victim of a ransom to the cruel and evil yakuza who threatened to blow up his apartment if her demands were not met.

"O-Otohime chan? Are you there? L-Look, did Kamijou-san said something wrong?"

"... sniffle... Kamijou onii-chan."

(Oh crap! I never knew the crying voice of a 10 year old girl has this much attack power!)

"Y-Yes, Otohime-sama? What can I do for you?"

"...I'm...not that important to you?"

"Nonononono! I didn't say that! I mean, Kamijou-san just don't understand what's so important that he has to abandon his only path to redemption!"

But once he stopped his ranting...

The phone went silent once more.

"...oh crap."

In that instant, Kamijou knew he stepped into a landmine because the phone was leaking out a noxious anger of the female species of humanity which he was sadly so familiar with. The dangerous threat was then confirmed positive when the ten year old girl spoke very slowly and coldly.

"Kamijou onii-chan."

"yes?"

"You forgot didn't you?"

"...yes,whatever it was, I'm sorry."

Apparently, he had promised last year that he'd come to her school's cultural festival.

"I'm sorry I forgot that. Next time you came to Academy City, I'll buy you an ice cream!"

And just like that, Otohime's mood turned 180 degrees.

"Yay! Then I want the Supreme Emperor Chocolate Monday Master from Willard Ice Cream Specials in District 3!"

"W-What's with all those supreme, emperor and master? Why did they put it all in one name?! Is it some kind of a super ice cream that will instantly drain my wallet like the oil drills!? And how do you know about Academy City's special desserts?"

"Neh neh, Onii chan. A promise is a promise y'know ~"

"Damn iiiiiiit!"

As Kamijou fell into despair from the appearance of a powerful new foe, he heard a giggle from the phone. He started to wonder if this mischievous nature was apparently Otohime's true personality.

Kamijou mentioned "apparently" because he had lost his memory in an incident once and Kamijou couldn't remember a single thing about it. It was also why he did not have any memories of Otohime and it was very unlikely that he would remember anything anytime soon.

Missing memories aside, there was no way Kamijou could just go out from Academy City so easily. For a city that generally dislike outsiders and had became the center of the World War III, the security was abnormally tight. Furthermore, skipping anymore classes is not an acceptable option, especially with all the previous commotion around Fräulein Kreutune and Agitate Halation. His attendance were so bad that instead of being forced to repeat a year, he would've had to redo a year in middle school to refill his entire scores.

Thankfully, Academy City did not support that kind of radical education system. So instead of going through that hell, he had to accept the supplementary lessons provided by Komoe-sensei.

...Which has an insane schedule that would have driven every student cackling mad and scrape their dormitory walls with 'all work and no play makes ## a dull boy' like in a certain horror movie. Kamijou was sure that if his current schedule was applied to every student, the teacher's board that decided Academy City's compulsory education system would have been fired one by one. However, if he tried to raise a protest then it'd be utterly pointless. Kamijou himself would have been considered at fault because he skipped for no good reason. In his defense, he would've liked to say that he was stopping a world war and an international underground terrorist group, but saving the world from the brink of destruction is not a valid reason to skip school. It would only made it more likely for him to receive a written requirement to visit the school's councilor committee or a psychiatrist specializing in juvenile acts.

In a way, Kamijou was in a sort of hell, but for someone like him who had experience the real hell where people would fight to kill or be killed, the supplementary lessons should be a welcome reprieve, right?

...or it should be, at least.

"E-Eh...? Onii chan, why are you cackling so creepily and what was that scraping noise in the background of the phone?"

"-hehehe... Oh! Err, nothing! It's just that, recently, my bad luck is reaching several peaks beyond what I thought was possible... mumble mumble."

Whether it was formed in a normal, ordinary days in life or the extraordinary ones where you fight for your life, a hell is still a hell. That was the belief that Kamijou Touma held. He was not a superhero that leads a double identity in two different worlds. Kamijou only has one identity and he had travelled the dangerous lines between the innocent, ordinary world and the cruel, harsh one.

In the fairness of logic, someone who chose that path should have been destroyed long ago, but the fact that Kamijou's main concern has been his school attendance when he was a primary target for a worldwide magical terrorist group has proven how strong he really was.

Or that he was the greatest dumbass in the world.

"I see." Otohime sighed as if she understood his pain. Kamijou couldn't recall anything before the start of summer but could it be possible that this was a well known habit? "Well, Onii chan, did something happen to force you to skip beyond the day offs you were given? It would be good if you stop throwing yourself into bizarre situations again. Did you remember what happened last time? Touya ojii-san has to bail you out from the police!"

(It's a bit late of a warning for that Otohime-chan. And what in the world happened last time? What kind of a trouble did I get myself into?!)

Kamijou's bewilderment of his past self was reaching its climax. Otohime, who did not know the predicament he had to go through recently merely let out a cute sounding "Hmm? What happened? What happened?", she might be tilting her head in confusion on the other side of the phone.

"Nothing troublesome. I'll tell you later when I have the chance."

"Okay. Anyway, onii-chan, are you coming here or not?"

It seems that for some reason she really wanted him to come and visit.

Kamijou would've like to ask why, but he doesn't want to increase the suspicion of his own condition. Making Misaka and Index worried sick about him was enough.

So, instead of accepting or refusing, Kamijou went with the third option.

"...I'll try to figure something out, okay?

Basically, Kamijou was employing a trick every parents would have used at least once.

(Well, as much as I wanted to go, it's highly doubtful if that was possible. I don't want my grades to fall even lower. That last visit to the principal was horrible.)

Just then...

Kamijou felt a strange chill.

He dropped the phone suddenly, quickly turned around, frantically searching left and right for something he doesn't really comprehend himself.

Naturally, nothing out of the ordinary was in his room. But some kind of unease has settled within his chest.

(Huh? What was that about?)

"Onii-chan, what's going on?" Otohime suddenly voiced her concern from the phone, which Kamijou quickly brought back to his ears. "Did something bad happen to you?"

"...n-nothing so ridiculous like that."

"By the way, it's important for you to come onii-chan! _After all, things will get really dangerous if you don't_."

"Huh? Otohime-chan?"

His memories might have gone missing, but the knowledge of the previous Kamijou Touma was perfectly intact.

And that knowledge right now was telling him that something was wrong.

"Mhm, it's really dangerous! _My friends and I will be doing a charm that will summon ghosts_. It's really such a thrill!"

Yeah, something was really, really wrong.

"W-What?! How did you find such a ridiculously dangerous charm?!" Kamijou loudly yelled on the phone.

"Hoe? We saw it in the internet of course." Otohime said matter-of-factly. "Umm, why are you panicking onii-chan? It's just for fun alright."

"O-Oh, so it's just something you saw from the internet..."

Hearing that, Kamijou deflated quickly.

(Oh well, hoax and charms on the internet was definitely a lot safer than some secret book of darkness that summon demons.. Urgh, all those surprise and worries seems very pointless now.)

"? What did you think I was doing onii-chan?"

"A-Ah! N-Nothing, I, err, just thought you were involved in something dangerous."

"Muu! Onii-chan, you're the one I should be telling you that! Besides, I'm old enough to tell the difference between legitimate strangers that sells legitimate candies and the fake strangers that sells fake, poisonous candies."

"No! Both of them are strangers in the first place. Don't get involved to suspicious people offering you strange candies, you idiot!"

"Don't underestimate the tenacity of this little sister! I will taste all the wonderful joys of different kinds of lollipops even if there are chances that one of the vendor is a member of a human trafficking organization!"

"That's all the more reason not to! You're not listening at all, aren't you?!"

That was it. Kamijou and his cousin exchanged ridiculous banter like that for the remainder of the call.

Yet, something was still bothering Kamijou.

(But what was that feeling from before? Damn it, I get the feeling that something bad will happen again. Is my bad luck acting up again?!)

Setting his bad feelings aside for now, he promised once more to find a way to visit (although it was just a lie), said his goodbyes to Otohime, quickly packed his bag and left his apartment in a hurry.

In a way, that was how Kamijou's morning ended. A normal routine in a normal life and a normal hell for him to go through.

It would have been a far different story if he had noticed the girl in red grimly smiling from the dark corner of his room.

* * *

**(Somewhere Else)**

In Academy City, a certain girl was on the rooftop of a random skyscraper.

She was standing at the tip of the high-rise building while hugging a white pillow that resembles a rhinoceros beetle. She was so close to the edge that a slight push from the wind would be enough to throw her down. Any human being with their right mind or a human being without a proper power that would let them survive a fall from several hundred feet would have gone cold feet in fear.

However, she was not an ordinary girl. It was doubtful that she was even a human being.

Her name was Fräulein Kreutune.

Originally, she looked like an adult woman in her mid-thirties, but after she ate the candy brain made from the body parts of a magician, her appearance shrunk in age, bearing a close resemblance to a teenage girl.

Previously, this girl had been the center of a large commotion in Academy City.

Calling it 'a large commotion' might be putting things a little too lightly. It was a series of event that led to the fight between level 5 Espers and Saint class Magicians. A huge collision of open conflict between two different worlds of different set of laws was not something that happens on a daily basis. And this girl... no, this something that closely resemble a girl, was an existence special enough to draw the attention of this powerful people.

Fräulein Kreutune has the uncanny ability to automatically modify herself to adapt herself in the environment. If her current environment in this world was changed, then she would adapt herself with the conditions of the environment she scanned. Since she has a physical limitation, she would search a location or adapt her own body to create the most suitable environment for her.

And right now, there was something drawing the attention of this special existence.

She had once obtained the function to track down bioelectromagnetic signals to track down the information she needed. Now that she no longer has any need for that function, that function in the form of an organ similar to the shark's ampulle of Lorenzini has been deactivated.

However, it was reactivated recently.

Let me repeat this once more, Fräulein Kreutune has the ability to automatically adapt herself to her current environment.

Simply put,_ something has changed her current environment in Academy City._

It was a strange flow of energy. No, she corrected herself, it was a rift. A dimensional rift. Stretching deep into Academy City. And the center of this rift is...

"...Kamijou Touma."

She recognized that boy. He was one of the person who had tried to save her during her 'transformation'.

Thus, that made him one of her friends.

It might seem strange for something like her to possess the concept of a friend. But even if her thought patterns was vastly different to that of a normal human being, that was still the conclusion which she has arrived into. This bond and connection she had made was without a doubt one of her greatest treasures.

And something strange was following him.

"..."

It was something she had recognized before during her long period of existence. A remnant of a human who had passed away and also something that could become a danger to the living human being.

Fräulein's thought for a moment of what she should do.

Her strange insect-like thought pattern reached a single conclusion.

"At the very least, I should repay this debt I have."

With that short sentence to herself, she jumped from the skyscraper.

* * *

**(?)**

As a black-haired girl opened the door to the bedroom, the melody of a classical music entered her ears. She turned his attention into an old recorder on the side, heaving a sigh on the taste of the owner.

She had quietly sneaked up into this bedroom like a master thief. The bedroom was designed with European gothic style with many classical furnitures decorating the place. With a security that would have put high-profiled military bases to shame and the amount of eye-catching classical furnitures (made of gold, platinum, etc), it was plenty obvious that the room was a literal treasure trove. Even the small vase on the veranda could afford a private island on the Carribbean.

But the girl paid them no heed. She had no interest on money or wealth. Her only focus was the girl of about 10 to 12 sleeping on the master bed. Her eyes were glaring daggers at her figure. The girl was beautiful with her lithe form and her sleeping dress that gave the impression of a gothic lolita. Simply put, everyone would have believed her if she introduced herself as a princess.

Be that as it may, the girl who sneaked into that room felt nothing but contempt to the little girl.

The master thief, no, the assassin held a single knife.

It was a small combat knife designed especially for the military. The grinded part on the back of the knife, the sharp edged point at the front, the signs were all there. It was a weapon which was commonly seen in stealth-action games where the protagonist would slit the throat of his enemy from the back.

And the girl intended to do just that.

She stared at her peaceful sleeping form with cold eyes. The little girl innocently holding her blanket was unaware that she was here. She did not know her knife would be jammed into her throat and blood would spurt out from her mouth replacing the drools from her peaceful sleep. Her master bed would be dyed with red.

In the next three seconds, that mere delusion had become reality.

The girl unhesitatingly launched her knife into the sleeping girl's neck. Blood bursting out from her vessels. Her white pillows and sheets were covered in deep red. In mere seconds, her previously closed eyes bulged open in surprise. In that split second of her life, she tried to breathe, tried to move her arms or legs to move, to resist, and yet small gasps from her mouth was all she could manage. Blood started flowing from her nose, a small proof that her trachea was broken and her lungs would be filled with her own blood. Clear signs of horrible pain was evident in her eyes.

Pain that the assassin took pleasure in, if her dark, delighted smirk was any indication.

And mere moments afterwards, the bloodied girl laid still on her bed. Drowning in her own blood.

The assassin allowed herself a pleasant smile, even as the gothic princess had taken a last ditch effort to glare at her before she stood silent. There were no doubts in her mind that the sight of the sleeping princess writhing in pain was worth every effort she had done sneaking into that high security place.

And for the first time, the girl finally spoke.

But the voice did not belong to the black haired assassin.

"Cough cough... Do you... guh...really have to wake me up like that?"

_It belonged to the girl who had been stabbed on her neck._

"You did have an appointment set up soon. I just took the initiative as a good employee."

"Liar. A head of security is not a maid. You're not supposed to wake me up, much less stab me in the neck. That's what the alarm clock was for." The gothic girl said as she stood up with a groan. She winced slightly as she pulled a bloodied knife from her neck. The small open gap on her neck suddenly closed itself with a hiss.

Meanwhile, the black haired assassin, no, employee, merely cocked her head and mockingly asked her boss, "Meh, it's more interesting this way. it's not as if you have an alarm clock that can stab someone in the neck."

"Of course I have those. Well, not here mind you, I kept some in my shed in Paris. I needed those to kill some troublesome nobles back in the days." Then, with a deliberate sigh, she threw her knife into the floor, still dripping with her blood. "I hope you're satisfied, Shutaura. Sneaking in here without triggering any alarms was not something that could be done with just a month or two of planning, so you have got to spent some of your breaks into this. Tell me something, was it worth it? Doing pointless things like this?"

"Believe me. It was worth every effort. And officially, it was a surprise check up for loopholes of your personal security so it still counts into my job as your security officer."

"Yeah, and since you have, oh so wonderfully, discovered a loophole and used it to stab your employer, I've decided to give you a raise... was that what you wanted to hear? C'mon you annoying devil girl._ This is the third time you killed me this month_. I might be able to tolerate the first few times, but this is getting annoying."

Let it be said that the girl called Shutaura Sequenzia was not among the typical salaryman that tends to dislike and grumble about their employer.

In fact, she hated hers quite a lot. It may have something to do with the fact that her employer was responsible for the death of her father. Logically speaking, it won't be surprising that Shutaura went on into the dark path of revenge like a certain sharingan-eyed deuteragonist in a certain shounen manga.

But there was one simple problem with that.

Her employer, Ladylee Tangleroad, was an immortal.

Now y'see, that particular details might have deterred Shutaura's will to avenge her father but it won't stop her from finding a way to destroy her employee's immortality and then kill her with a pretty smile on her face. In a way, the setting would have been similar to a certain state alchemist and his rag tag band of misfits fighting a secret war to end the regime of an immortal who wanted to devour god.

But there was also another problem with that.

Ladylee Tangleroad was also looking for the very same thing.

Just to be clear, she was not trying to stop the threat to her everlasting immortal life. It was actually quite the opposite of her intention. Specifically, Ladylee was an immortal who had grown quite sick of living and had been trying for centuries to kill herself.

To put it mildly, Ladylee and Shutaura wanted the same thing. What better way to achieve it than to work together?

Of course, the entire decision did not come that easily. While Shutaura had already determined that Ladylee was truly an immortal who wanted to end her own life instead of faking that reasoning as an excuse for a horrible scheme, that doesn't make her a kind-hearted philanthropist like a wizened immortal who had gone through the wisdom of age. After all, Ladylee had been the one behind the destruction of a space aircraft that killed her father, and more recently, she had created a commotion centered on Endymion and had almost caused the entire northern hemisphere to explode and almost caused a world war between science and magic.

...well, the last part still happened eventually because of another monstrous mastermind with a strange right arm, but that was beside the point.

In conclusion, Shutaura had decided to stick with her job to ensure that some world-damning plot did not come out of the hundred-years old brain of her boss. She had eventually came into a reluctant acceptance to this annoying reality and settled into a certain ordinary (at least in her opinion) routine.

That doesn't make it a complete truce though since Shutaura made it a point to stab Ladylee's neck at least once a week.

Their relationship was complicated like that.

"Hm, I don't see any harm but you've completely ruin my bed. For the penalty, I think cutting 50% of your salary to clean up my bed should suffice."

The cold blooded assassin, Shutaura Sequenzia suddenly froze and trembled.

"W-Wait just a moment, I-I think the stain could come up easily if I use the Spring Clean in my apartment."

"What are you saying? That's an utterly cheap detergent! How can you use something so unrefined with the fabric made from Persian corset?!"

"I have no idea what that is. But the Spring Clean is a general all-use detergent suitable for all kinds of fabric. No matter what kind of stain or fabric it is, it'll be as new as if you just bought it from the store!"

"Stop spouting off that nonsense! That's just the flowery sales pitch of those salesmen that preys on delusional fools! Has that alternate personality of Meigo Arisa twisted your sense of logic?!"

"N-Now wait just a second, I washed of the mud from that quicksand with that detergent. And I used it again as a makeshift explosion once during the Ackerman Incident. A multi-purpose cleaner like that must be very potent and efficient!"

"You shifted back to Shutaura now?! Then that's all the more reason! That's why it's a lot more dangerous! Besides, it's not as if it was covered with mud water you idiot, it's completely drenched with blood! And I think you spilled some of my brain substance on the pillow."

"Brain comes off, mud water doesn't. Don't ask me how I know that."

Thus the boke-tsukkomi routine between boss and subordinate evolved into an all out catfight, then into a semi-serious brawl, then several minutes later into several fatal stabbings on the chest, face and other unmentionable body parts of females. Needless to say the entire luxurious bedroom was filled with even more red and maddening laughter of the backstabber... before it once more devolved into another round of boke-tsukkomi battle, catfight, brawl and so on, and so on.

Yeah, their relationship was complicated like that.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

For most, until that afternoon, school went on normally. Boring, uneventful and business as usual.

For Kamijou, school went on rather differently that day. Mind draining, hellish and utterly exhausting.

In that regards, Kamijou was already drained like he had gone through a deadly battlefield. His pupils were dilated, his muscles were horribly flexed, his mouth was letting out foam and steam was coming out of his ears. Simply put, he looked more like a ghost than a living human being.

"Eurgh, damn it. Komoe-sensei really went all out."

Frankly, school has never looked so deadly for him before.

His eyes which almost lost all of his light dully stared ahead. His feet tried to march Kamijou quicker into the safe bastion of his bed but his overheated, malfunctioning brain was making the process of walking home like a living hell.

"Alright... focus, Kamijou-san! It's just a block away from home sweet home! Index not home and tomorrow's a free day. so let's hurry home and relax."

In an attempt to re-energize himself, the frustrated mind of the troubled teenager shouted out optimistically.

It seems to be working because a bright smile slowly formed on his face.

"Yeah. Yeah! Yeah, that's right! I really like the idea of some time off. Tomorrow's a free day, so I can spend the next day sleeping in bed! Ahahahahaha! This hell might not be over yet but I'm so close to the end! I don't care if the world's ending or someone was in danger. I've been working way too much lately! fighting dangerous magicians and espers are not the job of a high school student! They should give more thought before putting together some crazy death matches!"

He pumped up his fists and started shouting up random nonsense to lift his spirit.

This idiot with a special right hand began throwing his hands in the air and shouting "Hooray!" repeatedly.

Naturally, this garnered some attentions from the passerby but most of them were true Japanese who did not like to enter useless conflict, so they actively tried to ignore him.

But then...

With a flash, something hard fell with a big thud right in front of him.

The crowd and pedestrians who were trying to ignore Kamijou's antiques began screaming and pointing at the lump of meat who had fallen from the sky above.

Several noises were coming from numerous people being who were oozing with concerns, surprise and worry of the person who they thought had committed suicide from a high-rise building. But those noises were starting to change into bewilderment, a mixture of fear and confusion once they realized that no blood was flowing from the supposedly dead person.

Meanwhile, Kamijou froze in place around the "hoo" part of "hooray".

His mind had been left unable to process a single thing. But before a rush of emotion overwhelmed him, a single piece of information of the one that had fallen in front of him stood out the most.

It was a girl.

No, it wasn't just a girl. This was a very familiar girl he had met before.

After a moment, the fallen girl suddenly stood up, eliciting a surprised and fearful reactions from the crowd who were watching.

The girl who looked relatively unharmed after falling from a skyscraper said, "If you have some free time, then come with me. Something dangerous was coming after you."

* * *

Her name was Fraulein Kreutune.

She was an unknown existence in the form of a female human that Kamijou and co. had saved several weeks prior. Her abilities included, but not limited to, immortality, inhuman thought system processes, inexplicable body systems adaptation to environment, etc etc.

Simply put, she was a very troublesome person whose appearance had completely destroyed any of Kamijou Touma's hope of having a peaceful day.

It would be another matter if Kamijou had met her in a passing while he was walking down the street. However, she had literally fallen face first to the ground from a 50 stories building. Furthermore, after standing up from such a fall relatively unharmed, she had been telling him that something abnormal was happening around him. His misfortune was definitely acting up. It was entirely plausible that another deathmatch flag had been triggered and a new powerful and mysterious foe will be coming out really soon.

At this point, his tears had already ran out so unless he wants to cry out bloody tears like a ghost in a horror movie, he has to recharge his tear glands a bit longer before he can cry like a pathetic little girl again.

Incidentally, Kamijou Touma gloomily stared into the transcendent little girl in his room who had somehow procured a white pillow on the shape of a rhinoceros beetle into her lap and was busy poking a (live) chicken which had also appeared out of nowhere (the chicken was also chirping somewhat happily. In a way, it was like a cute, little kitten).

"...so, what troublesome things brought you here?"

"You are in danger so I came to warn you. I thought it'd be appropriate to repay the favor."

Now, while most people would have felt awkward, disbelief, freaked out, srangely grateful or numerous other nonsensical emotion when a girl had fallen from the sky just to warn you of your impending doom (And yes, you have no idea how often THAT particular setting happened) you need to understand Kamijou's situation.

He had gone through World War III, a giant flying castle, a full-on battle in Hawaii, a tournament between freaks, a Dverg with a world-destroying sword, apprehended by his classmates, got shot because of a cabal leader, fought someone bearing the name of the Lightning God Thor, almost got killed by the ojou-samas of School Garden, fought a cyborg with the powers of the Level 5s and a bunch of other horrendous situation that would have gotten everyone else killed or, best case scenario, on borderline insanity.

Simply put, he had gotten too tired and too unfazed with this abnormal situations and had merely sighed in despair when the girl called Fraulein Kreutune appeared before him in such a spectacular display.

He felt that he had truly grown since in the past he would have yelled, 'Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Fukou daaaaaaaaaaaa!' and cried out tears like a little girl.

Well, he still cried out tears like a little girl, but an improvement is an improvement nonetheless.

"...yes, I get that. Thank you very much. So, what kind of danger is it? Can I finish it in time before my precious free time is wasted?"

"The probability of that is close to zero."

"Fukou da."

Kamijou's mood once again dropped into a new low. Meanwhile, Fraulein looked at him almost curiously.

"I don't get that term. Does that mean you were simply exclaiming your misfortune as a matter of fact? Or were you trying to relieve the stress caused by your misfortune by voicing your dissatisfaction with those two words?"

"Can you please try not to find the logic of my unlucky daily life? It'll make it even more depressing when I go face to face with the cold, brutal and extremely hard truth."

The girl known as Fraulein Kreutune tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in a way that made Kamijou shivered. She was a creature who based her existence on the amount of information she had compiled. The absence of information had once drove her into gaining the function of eating someone's brain to fulfil her limitations, so getting a complain instead of an answer seems to annoy her a bit.

Recalling this disturbing and inconvenient fact, Kamijou Touma muttered a groan before answering exasperatedly.

"...A little bit of both. Mostly the last one. It's a habit and a catchphrase of mine. Apparently, I did that even before I lost my memories."

"I see."

That was all she said before turning her full attention back to poking the chicken (to which the chicken was starting to feel more uncomfortable with). Kamijou was instantly reminded of Index who would sometimes tease/play with Sphinx, with the cat 'meow'ing constantly (Kamijou couldn't figure out if the calico cat was happy or disturbed)

"So, what kind of trouble was it again?" Kamijou said in an attempt to get back to the main topic.

"It was a disturbance," Fraulein said simply as if that explained everything. "To put it in simple terms, it would seem that an unknown force was disconnecting the boundaries of reality around you. Someone might have done that in order to reach you through a perpetual means instead of physical force."

"That was not simple at all." He groaned. "Does this have something to do with Gremlin again?"

For a moment, Kamijou was reminded that Fraulein had no knowledge of them despite her previous involvements. But much to his surprise, Fraulein Kreutune tilted her head so much that if she were a normal human Kamijou would have been worried that her neck would have torn off and started a long speech.

"Gremlin, the group led by someone with the title of Magic God. From what I have gathered from the Misaka Network, Cendrillon and UNDER_LINE, they were a powerful magic organization based primarily on Norse mythology. Their goals was related to the dissatisfaction to the result of the Third World War and completion of a certain weapon. They were responsible for the destruction of several forests, rivers and natural ecosystem in Belgium, Argentina, Egypt, Costa Rica, Indonesia and 27 other countries, the launching of Radiosonde Castle, the Eruption of Kilauea and the Hawaiian Invasion, attempted kidnapping of an HVI in a hospital in Norway, the skirmish with a group known as Dawn Colored Sunlight in Hereford, England and Ghent, Belgium, the conflict in Academy City during Ichihanaransai and the conflict in Baggage City."

Hearing the amount of information spouted off like a machine gun, Kamijou was rendered speechless. It seems she had been off doing things instead of staying idle everyday.

But back to the main plot, in conclusion, the Norse-based organization Gremlin led by Magic God Olthinus were, by far, the most powerful enemy Kamijou had yet encountered.

Just by hearing their name caused Kamijou's muscle to tensed. That was how much weight their power have taken hold. But Fraulein Kreutune was describing this enemy as if she was a biologist giving lectures about the species of an animal.

"No, from the profile I've gathered, it's not them." Fraulein concluded. "It was not in their character. They would have used a more direct method rather than causing small cracks in dimensional space."

"O-Oh, I see. Then who was causing this?"

"A ghost."

Kamijou blinked.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"A ghost."

"What?"

"A ghost."

"Uh..."

"To put it in simple terms, they are the remains of deceased human being who astralized into another dimension and-..."

Anything else Fraulein was saying was dimmed out by the hollow reality of the depth of his misfortune. Kamijou Touma speechlessly stared into the horizon with only a looming sense of dread for his lack of holidays. At this rate, his body was going to break into several pieces due to overwork.

"...Why the hell does something like this always happens whenever I finally caught a break?"

Deciding to surrender himself to fate, Kamijou half-heartedly muttered in resignation.

* * *

_**(A Certain Scribbled Writing)**_

_It came without warning._

_There were no obvious signs. At first, it was just a simple earthquake. Like what we'd learnt from the natural disaster class, we huddled up together. We thought it was just a simple natural phenomena, earthquakes were common in Japan after all. We thought it would have passed on soon and we'd be back to our ordinary lives. Each of us was breathing sighs of relief after the heart-wrenching natural disaster was over._

_As it turns out, we were wrong._

_There was nothing natural about the disaster... and the heart-wrenching events was very far from over..._

_Yes, it was so far from over._

_Very, very far._

_It was so far I don't understand where to turn back._

_It was so far I don't know how to make it stop._

_It was so far, this cursed school was all I could see._

_It was so far, the dead was all I could see._

_It was so far, that blood was all I could see._

_So far._

_So very far._

_So, very, very, very, very, __very, very, very, __very, very, very, __very, very, very, __very, very, very, __very, very, very, __very, very, ver_y, v_ery, very, very, __very, very, ver_y, v_ery, very, ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very, ___ver_y, very, very far.

_It was endless._

_It was truly endless._

_How long do I have to face this endless hell?_

_No, don't make me look. Don't make me see! All I see is blood! All I see is red! All I see is the bloodied girl in red!_

_Turn back. Turn black. Turn back. Turn black. Turn back! Turn black! Back. Black. Back. Black. Black. Back in Black. The school covered in red and black._

_Where to go out? Where is the exit? Where are the others? Where? Where? Where?! WHERE?! _

_No._

_This can't be._

_Why you?_

_Stop it._

_No, don't._

_Help me._

_I'm afraid._

_I ask myself._

_Why death?_

_Why do I have to face death?_

_No peace in death._

_All life is black_

_No death is peaceful in this life of black._

_There is only pain._

_The end is only pain._

_That pain... will stalk._

_Shut up._

_Shut it up._

_Shut up the pain._

_It shuts up with more deaths._

_It shuts up with every deaths._

_It shuts up with every kill._

_Why?_

_Why kill?_

_Why do I want to kill?_

_Why do I have to kill?_

_No more._

_No other way._

_The easiest way is to kill._

_The only way is to kill._

_Why pain when you can kill?_

_Turn back and black with every kill._

_Turn black and back with every kill._

_Turn black and back with every kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

_So kill._

**_...No one escapes Heavenly Host..._**

* * *

And...

It came without warning.

* * *

"What?"

The gothic lolita girl called Ladylee Tangleroad suddenly widened her eyes and stared far out distantly into the window of her bedroom that revealed the open skies. Sadly, because several inner bleedings on the aorta and esophagus, she looks perfect to be put into a mysterious horror video.

Shutaura who was busy plunging a knife into her neck, noticed her cessation of struggle. She frowned, briefly stopping her assault and said, "Is there something wrong?"

"This magic... isn't it that-..."

* * *

"Hmm?"

Inside Kamijou Touma's dorm room, Fraulein Kreutune tilted her head into dangerous diagonal factors and blinked owlishly.

And, in one rare moment of concern, she seemingly muttered to herself for no reason.

"This is bad."

Naturally, this elicited a negative groan from the very exhausted and utterly drained tenant of this room who wanted nothing more than to sleep on his bed. But if the seemingly immortal supergirl who had survived through the witch hunt and numerous other inhuman trials with just a blank look on her face said something was bad, then it'd be a very bad idea not to listen.

"W-What is it?! Please tell me you're just having problem with the air conditioner!" said Kamijou in an attempt to stall the impending horror with some comedy as his bad luck meter was spiking up once more into overdrive. This effort was once again utterly destroyed when Fraulein said her

"A dimensional tear has shifted into a large gap. The bioelectromagnetic repugnant system was unidentified and illogical, which concludes it was not based on science but magic. In conclusion-..."

"I-In conclusion?"

Kamijou couldn't help but noticed that her tone was different than before. While she had normally sounded indifferent, the last three words were laced with something unbearably cold and contempt. For someone that does not possess an ego of her own it was quite a major improvement, but it was neither the time or the place to celebrate.

"...It has begun." Fraulein spat out.

As if it was set as a signal, Kamijou's cellphone suddenly rang.

Kamijou frantically pulled out his cellphone from his trousers. But before he had pressed the "answer" button,_ the cellphone accepted the call on its own._

As a student of science, Kamijou Touma was entirely bewildered, but he was not given the chance to voice a question, because mere moments later a certain voice he was familiar with came out from the phone.

"T-Thank god, oh, thank god! It's connected! Onii-chan, help me! _I don't want to die_!"

"O-Otohime?!"

Her voice was entirely filled with despair.

With that, all hopes of Kamijou to return back into the kind-hearted genre of comedy, unfortunate daily life and fanservice-filled romance was completely annihilated.

"T-They... sob.. they k-killed Saburo-kun... and Aa-chan... stabbed... with Miya-chan... her head was... sob... was... s-separated... t-then... then... no, no no no no NO! Help me Onii-chan! I'm going to be next! I don't want to die like theeeeeemmmmmmmmm!"

"H-Hey! Otohime! Get ahold of yourself!"

Killed.

Stabbed.

Separated.

Die.

Why? How?

How could this happen?

They were chatting so merrily just this morning, so why is that bubbling innocent little girl started talking about these dangerous and foreign words only associated with the worst of mankind with near delirium sobs and utter fear ?

It turns out that fear truly was infectious, as every single fiber of Kamijou's being was swallowed with panic.

"Just calm down at first! Tell me what happened!"

"I-It's the charm... we were doing the-"

And the phone call was cut.

It was so abrupt that Kamijou was dumbfounded for a minute.

By the time he had snapped out, he gripped his phone until the glass screen was starting to break and yelled as loud as he can.

"Hello? Hello?! Otohime-chan, answer me! Hey, Otohime! Otohime!"

"...Stop that."

A truly cold voice cut him off.

Anyone else and Kamijou would have yelled "shut up!" and snapped at them out of panic and anger, but the immortal next to him had been giving off an uncharacteristically pissed-off aura while watching the balcony outside of his apartment.

So instead Kamijou merely grunted in repressed anger. He turned to his cellphone to call his cousin but the call failed with a "number not recognized" sound from the operator. As his anger was climbing in points, he started redialing again and again.

"It's pointless." Fraulein commented. "I suggest you calm down. The phone won't connect again no matter how many times you try. If it was really your cousin on that line, then there was a high probability that she was already dead."

While Fraulein Kreutune might have gained some improvements in the past few weeks, she was definitely not a human at her core. Her delicacy skill on approaching difficult subject was miniscule and she could not instantaneously reach that level where doctors could professionally proclaim their patients death to their family.

On the other hand, Kamijou was a human being. Even if he does understand that her words did not hold any malice and were nothing but cold, hard logic, hearing your cute little sister-like cousin was dead pronounced in such a cold manner would be enough to make anyone snapped.

"Oh yeah?" Kamijou growled, his anger finally getting the better of him. "That doesn't mean anything! At most, it only proves that she was in danger! I don't know why or how, but my cousin is in danger! So I'll just have to run back, punch whoever it is behind this and save her. You can't just wildly guess that she's dead so stop treating it like she is!"

"I can." Fraulein replied simply, quickly, and far too easily. _"That's because that girl in red outside the balcony was the one behind that call." _

Kamijou Touma froze.

Now that he thought about it, Fraulein Kreutune had never taken her eyes off the balcony.

He slowly, slowly, slowly, and ever so slowly turned into the balcony.

What he saw there outside his balcony...

"...Ah."

**...was a girl in red floating above the air with a blossoming smile as she cradled his cousin's head into her chest.**

"Ahhhh. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! "

Kamijou Touma held his head in his hands and shouted out.

He felt some sort of intense emotion swirling in his gut.

He could not believe it.

He does not want to believe it.

His mind continuously tries to deny this reality, while his eyes who were struck deeply into his cousin's last expression of utter horror continuously showed the horrible truth he does not want to bear.

This horrendous cycle within his mind was constantly thinning out his layers of excuses and imaginations until he could no longer deny the reality.

As he faced that cold reality, Kamijou Touma could feel that his ability to reason was drying up.

He had not considered asking what that girl is, who she is, why had she done this or any other questions. All he had in mind was how to take back her cousin's head and tore off every last bones of the **smirking, floating girl in red whose smile seems to mock at the dead.**

"...Calm down."

It was a small voice. Yet that voice seems to brought back some light from his eyes who had began to darken.

He felt something from his right arm. It was the grip of a delicate hand of a girl.

Just as Kamijou Touma was wondering whose arm was it, the grip moved from his sleeve. Almost with little effort, Kamijou felt his right hand was twisted by that hand in a way that almost tore off his ligament. His seemingly lack of reason did not give him the ability to feel any pain, but that was soon over as he felt his right hand touches his head.

A glass breaking sound echoed.

Kamijou's slow descent to insanity was instantly halted.

He could feel an unpleasant sweat all across my body. He could feel his heart rate had increased to a dangerous level. And it had taken him a whole minute to distinguish up from down and left from right. It was as if his senses connected by electricity through the nervous system had unexpectedly shutdown and was rebooted with a jolt.

As he came back to his senses, so does his remaining sense of pain. Something that was too unpleasant to even think about writhed throughout Kamijou's right arm as if his blood vessels were being stretched to their limit.

Naturally, after receiving such a damage, Kamijou started yelling out "It hurts! It hurts!" in tears.

"So, how is it?" said the culprit of the arm twisting champion, Fraulein Kreutune. "Have you calmed down yet? Or do I have to twist your arm another way?"

"No no no! thanks but no twisting. ...err, what happened anyway?"

**"Oh? So you've woken up."**

And the nightmare was back.

Kamijou had instantly recalled the horrifying end his cousin had met and instantly reacted to the girl in red hanging outside his balcony.

But he immediately froze once again.

"...What?"

The girl in red was still floating outside but the head of his cousin she cradled between her chest had somehow disappeared.

It was as if it was just a fake.

it was as if it was all just a horrible illusion.

**"That was a warning."** said the girl in red with a truly disgusting wide smile. **"The real thing will begin soon."**

"What the hell are you talking about?! And what the hell are you anyway?"

The girl did not answer immediately. In fact, she paused for a moment as if she was puzzled by something.

**"You forgot."** she seemingly muttered to herself.

It was a simple sentence made of two words, but Kamijou felt as if a terrible blow has landed on his psyche.

**"No, it was far complex than that. Amnesia? no, then there should have been fragments within his mind." **The girl in red deduced as she turn her head left and right.** "Kamijou Touma, was your memories destroyed by any chance?"**

She had quickly found out the truth.

That fact has rendered Kamijou struck speechless in shock. His brain quickly went over to what he knows about the possible identity of this girl in red.

Now that his mind was cleared out from the horrible illusion from before, something from his past mind latches on into his current self. It was the "knowledge" of the previous kamijou Touma before he had lost his memories. His "knowledge" of his past self told him that the girl in front of him was a ghost, presumably the same one Fraulein Kreutune had mentioned before.

However, his "knowledge" told him she was not just an ordinary ghost.

She was a truly powerful one who had lost her sanity and gained an insatiable thirst to gruesomely tortures and kills other humans. She had eventually grown powerful enough to gain an ability to create her own personal dimension where she would attract unfortunate people inside and kills them for her own perverse pleasure. The sign was the color red within her spiritual essence, it symbolizes violence and blood and was the closest color within the Hellenic, Greeks, Celtic and Zoroastrians to the color black that symbolizes death.

Once more, Kamijou Touma was left wondering just what kind of trouble his past self had gotten into.

Another singular term popped up from within his head.

Revenant.

Was that what this floating girl in red who reeks of death and blood is?

And it seems she was not just that.

"A ghost from the past...huh." Kamijou clicked his tongue. "Damn it, me. Why couldn't you just have a bittersweet encounter with an ordinary girl instead of a creepy ghost girl in red with a penchant for killing? Just how bad was my luck back then?"

Although he said that jokingly, Kamijou Touma began gritting his teeth. He revealed his hostile canines and clenched his right hand tightly.

This ghost was an enemy.

There was not a shred of hesitation. The moment you hesitate you'd die, his "knowledge" were telling him so.

She was definitely someone he had encountered in the past. Her familiarity and the wholly unnerving "knowledge" provided by his head was the evidence.

Somehow, Kamijou doubted that meeting had ended well.

"Have we met?"

**"You could say that."**

The abomination answered with a light giggle.

The sight of a floating girl dressed in red with was so surreal, however Kamijou could not help but think that her smile was much more extraordinary than that sight.

Even against espers or magicians, Kamijou had never seen such an "evil" smile before.

**"I originally planned to start the party right now."** She said, still with that deplorable smile. However her gaze has shifted into someone beside Kamijou. **"But that wouldn't be ideal. That monster right next to you would ruin it in an instant."**

It does not take a genius to figure out she was referring to Fraulein Kreutune.

Unlike Kamijou, Fraulein Kreutune did not go tense or have an inexplicable bouts of madness. It probably came with her disposition that was different from "human". She acted blankly like usual as she stared at the ghosts with almost sleepy eyes.

"...You're the bad guy." Fraulein mumbled simply like that.

And then she took action.

Her body "fell" forward into the edge of the balcony with her weight fully shifting to her front. The law of thermodynamics and gravity that acted unto the propelled force allowed her to move faster than normal as if she "lunged forward" to her prey.

That's right. Prey.

Fraulein Kreutune instantly broke the fences of the balcony (which Kamijou would have cried pathetically for if there was no impending force of death and doom nearby) and stopped dangerously close to the edge. She instantly stopped right in front of her prey and began "eating" the girl in red.

But the girl in red had not changed in the slightest. She did not even bat an eyelash as her very essence was devoured by another predator. Her eerie smile was still the same.

Yet Kamijou Touma, too, was strangely unfazed.

He was still wary of the girl in red but he could still kept a surprisingly cool head as he saw the surreal sight of a ghost girl being eaten and an immortal girl who ate her.

He seemed to be aware of his own abnormality because he sighed and said with a resigned tone, "I'm getting far too used for this."

If he thought about it calmly and carefully, the reason why the girl in red could keep smiling was obvious.

"Ergh, no stars." Fraulein disgustedly said as she reached the same conclusion as she 'ate' the ghost. "You're just a fake."

After all, she had the ability to create that haunting illusion. Creating a mental picture of herself to float around and drive someone into a mental madness doesn't seem too impossible compared to the extraordinary things Kamijou had seen.

**"As you can see Kamijou Touma, I was different from the original. I do not just go berserk and start the killing spree."** She continued to say with a smile even as Fraulein Kreutune was munching her teeth on her non-existent body with the reluctancy of a child being forced to eat vegetables. **"Oh, you probably won't even remember the original. Well, it's time for you to learn. I hereby invite you to the upcoming party of mine."**

There were so many things he wanted to ask and yell at the girl but the last part somehow caught his immediate concern.

His "knowledge" began yelling at him that the girl in red had said a truly dangerous term.

"H-Hold on a second! What _'party'_ are you talking about?!"

As Fraulein Kreutune continued to "eat". Her spiritual body had looked as if she had lost an arm, her legs, her lower waist and some upper part of her head, but her face had remained intact. Fraulein had likely intended it to be the last part she "ate" so that Kamijou could extract as much information from her as much as he could. However, it backfired perfectly with the last question.

The girl's smile grew bigger.

**"Why, the same one like before of course."**

Kamijou had not thought it possible, but her smile had gotten more "evil".

He had no other way to describe it.

Compared to the girl who was supposedly "eating" another being, the girl being "eaten" scared him more.

Even though she was slowly disappearing, Kamijou felt that her presence had grown even stronger.

The girl in red was left with small bits and pieces left on her face but her mouth was still moving.

**"Kamijou Touma, I hereby invite you."** She repeated.

Her last spiritual body part, her face, was left with only a single eye.

But her voice did not disappear. A small, crippling laugh could be heard on the background.

And...

The thing she said at the end was spoken with great malice.

**"...To our lovely Corpse Party."**

A true darkness has been unfold.

Kamijou Touma will have to step into that dangerous world.

Someone has ensured that he will have no other choice but to do so.

* * *

**(3rd Person)**

Before we continue, let's put several things into perspective, shall we?

As we all know, Kamijou Touma had suffered amnesia during July 19th several months before. He has no memories at all about his friends or his family prior to the incident. He had kept this condition a secret to everyone but eventually some people had found out through their own ways.

However, even if it was a very important, ground-breaking and heart-rending matter in the family's dinner table, his family was still kept in the dark and those who knew this secret have no desire to carelessly spread it out. So this matter is so far a public secret in Kamijou Touma's circle of friends.

But the main point of the matter right now is...

Kamijou Touma has no way of knowing how his cousin would normally behave.

The previous Kamijou Touma would have caught on to her if Otohime started acting strangely, but the current Kamijou Touma does not have the memories to do so. His intact 'knowledge' might be able to sense something was amiss, but he won't act on it without the necessary memories. Whether it was for assuring Otohime or for the sake of maintaining his facade, only Kamijou himself would know.

At any rate, it was not a problem as long as Otohime was kept in the dark. If, somehow, she does found out about this secret, then he'll just have to come clean and accept whatever punishments and scoldings his family have in store for keeping things like that a secret.

But what if...

...Hypothetically, of course...

Hypothetically speaking, what if the one on the other side of the phone had not been Tatsugami Otohime?

Hypothetically speaking, what if someone had been pretending to be Kamijou Touma's cousin?

Hypothetically speaking, what if that someone was a person Kamijou Touma had met before?

Hypothetically speaking, what if that someone had found out about his loss of memories?

If that notion was true then Kamijou would have no way of knowing the malicious truth, and whoever it was behind the other side of the phone could control the direction of the conversation and the path he was heading by freely pretending to be his "cousin".

There were several urban legends spreading within every society. For example, there was "the Bloody Mary" in America, "the deadly search engine" and "the White Alligators" in Academy City, "the 100 ghost stories" and "the charm that will make you friends for life" in Japan, and similar to this situation, "the person on the phone."

In the legend of "the person on the phone", someone is talking to their lover over the phone, but their lover seems to be acting weird. There are several variations to the legend, but the majority agrees that the person was speaking to someone dangerous instead of their lover.

This was the same kind of darkness.

This was the true essence of the evil that silently roams the world.

This silent danger was far worse than the ones posed by magicians, espers or any other kinds of people with superpowers. These extraordinary people mostly chose to ran their abnormality on a separate world than the same, ordinary days where normal people goes on about in their normal, daily life. They would silence any witnesses, involve as few innocents as possible and do their grizzly business hidden within the shadows.

However, this type of danger was different.

Instead of keeping ordinary people away, they will draw them in into the core of the darkness.

Instead of hiding their world from the other to maintain a face of civility, they will blatantly taint their ordinary world and stripped them of their innocence.

Instead of keeping the secrets of their evil, they will flaunt their cruelty and laughed as they fall into despair.

This was that kind of darkness that hides themselves from the facades of daily life and they will bare their fangs to the innocents that walks upon their jaws as they were doing their usual routine like going to their schools or workplaces. That was why this type of silent danger were the cruellest and worst of them all. They ignores the very boundaries between the two distinct worlds and they violated common sense with unimaginable horror.

Even if their powers or abnormality was third rate compared to those people that delved within the dark side of Academy City or the various cabal magicians like the Dawn Colored Sunlight, the amount of malice and darkness it contains could surpass the scale of an entire world.

And...

Somewhere in the dark corners of Kisaragi Academy, a girl who represents one of this silent danger silently stood.

She let out a light giggle.

Strangely, her voice was suspiciously similar to a girl who was the cousin of a certain spiky haired boy.

"I'm sorry for tricking you, onii-chan, but you were right. You are very unlucky. You really just aren't lucky at all."

The bread crumbs has been spread. It was only a matter of time until someone will pick up the trail.

The website had been posted, the rituals had been going on for a while, so the ritual of the nine should begin soon and, most importantly, that boy will no doubt find his own way into this school.

Her face had shown no regrets despite guiding these people into his potential doom.

In fact, she was on the verge of laughing with incredible euphoria.

"Soon, the dead will unleash their fear and malice to that right hand. The killing will begin shortly. I know you can save some of them from their horrible fate, but can you stop their inevitable despair?"

Her mouth transformed into a twisted grin. A cackling laugh begun to fill the air that was devoid of the living.

She laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed as if she was a demon who had gotten the contract to the priceless soul of a saint.

"I wonder, can your right hand destroy death itself?"

She whispered lightly as her laughter subsided, changing into light, creepy giggles. And her body suddenly began to vanish out of thin air.

Her visage was distorted and the sound of her voice suddenly changed, like a sweet symphony at first, then a loud, heavy shriek later, almost as if it was the rumbling sound of a true demon. Another change also happened, the color red had began to spread out of thin air, covering her entire body like a dress. At the same time, her figure begun to crumble like an illusion from beneath her feet.

Yet, that smile that leads to hell itself would never fade.

"W. e. l. c. o. m. e. t. o. H. e. a. v. e. n. l. y. H. o. s. t. , K. a. m. i. j. o. u. T. o. u. m. a."

And the girl in red disappeared, leaving behind that single echo, a laugh and maddening glimpses of red.

* * *

**I've decided! The Toaru characters above are the only ones who I will use in this fic! With a girl who just won't die, a girl who was unclear whether she was an esper or a Saint and a girl that clearly cannot be described as human, it seems to be a gathering of monsters who might be too much of an overkill to the ghosts of Heavenly Host.**

**Make no mistake though! A clear plot is finally forming! Even I'm surprised I could came up with it. Fuwooooooh! Does that mean I'm a lot more amazing than I thought myself?!**

**For those who are the devout follower of Corpse Party fandom, I extend a humble apology. I will be deconstructing and ripping apart the Corpse Party universe piece by piece. Heavenly Host is still pretty much the same. It's deadly, it's evil, it's full of bits of pieces of body parts and being stuck there still sucks. But now I'll be adding on several Toaruverse parts of logic to make entire place more creepier, more deadlier and a lot more messed up than it was before. In my personal opinion, it was so different from the original Heavenly Host that it's officially an AU tagged storyline now! Hurray for unreasonable violence, excessive gore-filled child abuse, unlimited bouts of insanity, disfigurement of body parts and crash course of blood splattered all over! Muahahahahaha!**


End file.
